- MARIJUANA-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico lawmakers are embarking on an unusual legislative session that focuses on the legalization of recreational marijuana. Efforts at legalizing the sale of cannabis to adults 21 and older faltered during the regular annual session that ended March 20, amid divergent views about government oversight among supporters of legalization. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has called back legislators to the Statehouse to hammer out an agreement on thorny issues of tax rates on pot sales, precautions against child access and court procedures for reversing past cannabis convictions. Negotiations are well underway in private.
- CONGRESS-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A cadre of 130 New Mexico state Republican Party leaders is deciding on a nominee to run for the Albuquerque-based congressional seat held by Deb Haaland before she was confirmed as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Members of the GOP central committee who reside in the 1st Congressional District were scheduled to vote on a nominee Saturday in a videoconference meeting. At least seven candidates have sought the nomination. Prominent candidates include conservative radio talk show host Eddy Aragon and three-term state Sen. Mark Moores, a former football lineman at the University of New Mexico.
- AP-US-AIRPORT-BODIES
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man accused in the beating death of a New Jersey resident he claimed sexually abused him as a child has been charged with killing his ex-wife and two of her friends whose bodies were found at a New Mexico airport. The charges came Friday following numerous interviews and searches of a house, storage units and other locations in the city of Grants, where suspect Sean Lannon, his ex-wife and their children lived. The remains of Jennifer Lannon, two of her friends and an Albuquerque man were found earlier this month in a vehicle at an Albuquerque airport parking garage. Charges related to the death of the Albuquerque man have not yet been filed.
- GOVERNOR VACCINATED-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has received an initial vaccination shot as the state opens eligibility to more residents. The 61-year-old governor and former congresswoman announced in a news release that she received the shot of the Pfizer-manufactured vaccine at a clinic on a school campus in Santa Fe. The state is making the vaccine available to residents ages 60 and over, essential workers and a variety of health and hospice workers. About one-quarter of New Mexico residents are fully vaccinated. Local rates of COVID-19 positivity in testing and related deaths in New Mexico have plummeted in recent months.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation has reported nine new COVID-19 cases for a second day. The latest numbers released Friday, including two additional deaths, raises the tribe's numbers to 30,040 cases and 1,245 known deaths since the pandemic began. Health care providers across the Navajo Nation are administering the vaccine either at drive-thru events or by appointment. Tribal President Jonathan Nez says around half of the Navajo Nation's adult population has been fully vaccinated. However, he urged the community to minimize travel, continue to wear masks and social distance. Mask mandates and daily curfews remain on the reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
- AIRPORT BODIES-VICTIMS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Jennifer Lannon loved her children, though she lost custody of them because of her struggle with prescription drug use. Matthew Miller was especially fond of his pets and had run-ins with police as he faced an opioid addiction. Their decomposing bodies were found along with that of their equally troubled friend Jesten Mata and another man inside a truck at a New Mexico airport parking garage. The gruesome discovery this month touched off a nationwide manhunt for Lannon's ex-husband in a strange case stretching from New Mexico to New Jersey that has raised questions of possible serial killings and left grieving loved ones trying to understand what happened.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK EDUCATION REENTRY
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An analysis by The Associated Press shows that 5% of New Mexico students from kindergarten through grade 8 can walk through school doors full time. The national average for a similar age group was around to 45% in February. A recent national survey found that the majority of Black and Hispanic students must attend school remotely, while most white students can attend in person. New Mexico isn't tracking in-person learning by race. The state education department says it's working to get all students access to full-time in-person learning by April 5, and that the vast majority of educators have gotten at least one vaccine dose.
- INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY-OWNERSHIP
PHOENIX (AP) — Indigenous news organization Indian Country Today has changed ownership. The National Congress of American Indians on Friday transferred its interests in the outlet to IndiJ Public Media, a newly incorporated Arizona nonprofit. Indian Country Today has operated as an independent limited liability company under NCAI since 2017, when the Oneida Indian Nation donated the outlet to the country's oldest and largest tribal organization. It will now operate as an independent company. NCAI President Fawn Sharp called the move an "exciting time for Indian Country Today to become fiscally independent and to continue its tradition of an autonomous free press." Indian Country Today is headquartered at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.